Debut author Stuart Turton’s The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, originally published earlier this year in Great Britain as The 7 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, is an intricately plotted murder mystery, set in an isolated early 20th century English mansion, with a highly imaginative speculative element that is only gradually revealed, as our main character tries to figure out who he really is, and how to solve the mystery of Evelyn Hardcastle’s pending death … or has her death already occurred?

The plot and setting are worthy of Agatha Christie: Lord and Lady Hardcastle have invited a number of guests to their British country mansion, Blackheath House, for a weekend party to celebrate the return of their daughter, Evelyn, from Paris. (The notable guests and household staff are conveniently listed in a copy of the party invitation at the beginning of the book.) One of the guests, Dr. Sebastian Bell, suddenly comes to himself while running through the forest surrounding Blackheath. The name “Anna” was on his lips, but he has no idea who Anna is or who he himself is. His memory is completely blank. Bell is horrified to see a man chasing a woman through the forest, and then a scream and a pistol shot.

Eventually Bell, with a little mysterious help, makes his way back to the mansion, where he tries to convince the other guests to search for the woman he is certain was murdered in the forest. But nobody at Blackheath knows (or in any case admits to knowing) a woman named Anna, and they’re dubious about Bell’s improbably story, particularly in light of his amnesia. Bell meets several of the other guests, including Evelyn Hardcastle, a blonde woman in her late twenties who quickly strikes up a friendship with him (“I loathe getting to know people, so whenever I meet somebody I like, I just assume a friendship immediately. It saves a great deal of time in the long run.”) In the late evening Bell sees something that frightens him so much he faints. He wakes up in another person’s body ― the butler, Mr. Collins ― in the morning of the same day that he just lived through as Sebastian Bell. His day as Collins is even more hellish than it was the first time around. And then he wakes up again, early in the morning of that same day, in another person’s body. Is there a way out of this nightmare?

I went into The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle without knowing anything about its plot; I had conveniently forgotten the blurb by the time I began reading the book. Normally I hate not having context in a novel, and being confused about what the book I’m reading is generally about. But in this case going in blind was highly appropriate, because our main character (who does find out his real name eventually) initially has no idea who he actually is or what is going on around him. The light sheds very gradually, but it all comes together in the end with an awesome set of twists and turns that Dame Christie herself certainly would have admired. Characters often aren’t who they seem, and events that seemed to signify one thing frequently turn out to have an entirely different meaning.

The plot of The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is so layered, with a tremendously tight timeline and so many interwoven elements and characters, that I can’t help but picture Turton writing this novel in a room filled with vast numbers of Post-it notes and crisscrossing strings tying everything together, like in the old Heroes TV show.

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(Turton has, in fact, stated that he used a massive spreadsheet, a notepad for each character, and a map of the setting ― as well as the aforementioned Post-it notes ― in the process of writing this book.) The speculative element is fascinating, if slightly far-fetched, but undeniably creative. When the main character realizes that the personalities of his host bodies are leaking through, affecting his thoughts and reactions, it deepens the plot.

On top of this, Turton adds insightful writing that’s a pleasure to read. I highlighted some sixty passages in the book; some of them were to help me keep track of the plot and characters, but others were simply for the beauty of Turton’s writing.

"She’s trying to anchor me with words … but I’m impervious to reason, consumed by my hatred for the man I was. His flaws I could accept, perhaps even overcome, but this is a betrayal. He made his mistakes and fled, leaving me holding the tatters of his scorched life."

Turton also adds symbolism to The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, including the decaying mansion, Blackheath, which echoes the failings and degeneracies of the upper class characters who are the guests at this dubious house party. A chess piece appears and reappears. A person in the costume of a plague doctor shares information with our main character about his situation and his mission.

This compelling murder mystery, wrapped in a soft science fiction enigma, is a truly impressive debut novel. Its combination of classic British mystery, Groundhog Day and Quantum Leap blew my mind! I enthusiastically recommend it, and I seriously can’t wait to see what Stuart Turton comes up with next.

I LOVED this book!! It is fantastical in the same way as The Night Circus - a fantasy but you don’t have to buy into a whole new world. It seems to coexist with the world as we knew it. 

It was so jam packed I kind of wish it could have been a series but was also glad I could come to a resolution in one book!

Bravo!!

A brilliant, explosive, mind-blowing debut. Everything you need to get book-addicted you’ll find it here.

Evelyn Hardcastle is meant to die over and over again at a gala party organised by her parents. She has been murdered hundreds of times and each day, Aiden Bishop is unable to stop it. As the same day repeats itself, the only way Aiden can escape is by solving Evelyn’s murder and win over an enemy he can’t see or understand. The catch, each time the loop restarts, he loses all his memories and forced to start from scratch. Can he put a permanent end to an endless day and find the murderer?

A new, refreshing, gripping debut that makes your adrenaline run high. The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is a unique murder mystery with a brilliant twist that pulls you in from the beginning. It’s 500 pages of

Stuart Turton creates a unique world that not you don’t only read about, you live it in every sense of the word. It’s atmospheric, very well described and developed, with enough details to keep you interested. It’s a dark setting, much like the Gothic style; it builds up suspense and leaves in anticipation of what might be lurking in the dark corners of the story. It takes place in England, The murder mystery is perfect, it keeps your mind turning and the fact the main character keeps waking up with no memory and seeing a young woman being murder is both brilliant and scary. It’s a concept that marks this novel as one of a kind. Turton leaves no loose ends and you’ll never guess who the murderer is until the very end. Additionally, Turton gives you different angles to the murders each time a new cycle begins. It’s like the pieces of the puzzle come together with each scene.

Turton style of writing is lyrical, descriptive, seductive and highly intellectual. The author digs deep into The descriptions are complex, involving and you don’t grow bored of reading them. There are several plots at play at the same time, it’s quite hard to keep up with all of them without losing the reader or the threads of the story, but the author does a great job in keeping everything perfectly tied together.

The characters are very interesting and twisted. It’s the perfect cast for a perfect plot. Aidan is your eyes inside that ballroom and he explores, discovers clues and meets the guests at the party. He gives you the chance to get to know the characters and develop a clear image of each one with each cycle. Everyone changes and transforms throughout the book and they all contribute to the great ending.

I can’t recommend this book highly enough. To the fans of mysteries and murder plots I just one thing to say: read it, it’s very much worth it.

Thank you NetGalley, the publisher Sourcebooks Landmark and the author for allowing me to read and review a digital copy of this book.

What a unique take on a mystery thriller! There are so many twists and turns that the book was difficult to put down. I don't want to give away too much but the entire premise of the book is completely original and unlike any that I have read before and I think that alone is enough reason to recommend the book. It was difficult at times to keep track of who was who and where we were during the order of events. Halfway through, I remember the front page that lists the characters invited to the ball and their relationships and that helped keep things straight.

This book has been knocking around my blogger friends for a long time so I was very excited when I finally managed to snuggle up with it. 
While this is a good book, I wasn't exactly enamoured with it. The story kept me entertained but it somehow fell a bit flat for me. I would still recommend it to people who are into certain genres, but maybe not one for everybody.

Thank you for Netgalley, Sourcebooks and Stuart Turton for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are 100% my own and independent of receiving an advanced copy.

Imagine being trapped in another person’s body, your memory wiped and the same day keeps repeating over and over again. That is the situation Aiden Bishop finds himself in. The only way to escape is to solve the murder of Evelyn Hardcastle. He has 8 days and 8 different “hosts” to help him.  

Welcome to Blackheath Estate, or should I say Hotel California. You can stay, but you can never leave. Well, you can leave, but first you have to find out who the murderer of Evelyn Hardcastle will be, seeing as she isn’t dead just yet, today. The reader is thrown into this story and kept off balance, trying to figure out this maze of events, people and places. Aiden wakes up in these different guests bodies and has to walk a fine balance of using his hosts skills to aid in his endeavour, while trying not to succumb to the darkest parts of their souls, all the while trying to hold onto the bits of his own personality and not lose himself to the host. Aiden has to be careful as there are two other also trying to escape. Can he trust them to help? Probably not, since only one can solve the mystery and be allowed to leave. 

What an original premise. A fresh idea that plays out into the most interesting, intricate, spooky thriller that I have read this year. This lives up to and exceeds all the hype it has received. It is multi-layered, smart, and so complex. You are glued from beginning to end. You follow each host through a roller coaster ride desperately trying to fit all the clues together, but don’t bother. You will never see the end coming. Turton does an amazing job of keeping the plot clean and tight, I can’t even imagine how hard that must have been. The characters are so well drawn, each having their distinct quirks, and all relevant to the plot. Never do you feel overwhelmed by different plot lines or lost with the amount of characters. It is seamless, from beginning to end. 

Very reminiscent of Agatha Christie, “Murder on The Orient Express”, with multiple characters, multiple storylines that somehow fit together. Think the character of Death in “The Book Thief”, with The Plague Doctor all-knowing and setting the rules of the world. I know people have alluded to “Groundhog Day” but it is not a true repeat of each day. First, the main character inhabits eight different hosts, so each time we repeat a day, it is a different character, with a new perspective and new personality traits. Second, the day doesn’t repeat the way it does in “Groundhog Day”. He can enter into a different host at any point during the day. Thus, it feels more like a new day each day, rather than a repeat of one day over and over. The one linking event is the death/suicide of Evelyn. There are so many interesting, thoughtful parts to this story but rather than spoil it I am trying to keep the details brief. It would take an essay to unpack what there is to talk about making this the perfect book club novel. 

It is such a remarkable read. I don’t think I’m doing it the proper justice here but I highly recommend it. I think it is pure genius how Truton weaves together this fantastic tale. The build up of tension and excitement meant that I couldn’t put it down until I finished it. The characters were authentic and multi-dimensional. I suspect that reading it a second and third time will only increase the charm of this unique story. Which I plan to do.

I hesitate to take to say this, but I really don't know if I've ever read a better book in my life. Of course, I am a sucker for layered, clever stories. You must be of a sober mind to read this. And if you want to learn how to write well, write beautiful language and well-constructed sentences, this is a must-read. I am totally in awe of this book and this author. How he came about this premise and how he constructed at the plot is a mystery to me. There is no telling how many hours it must have taken him to work through all this. Bravo bravo bravo, well done.

I admit to being totally confused for the first little bit, so lost that I answered the first big question of “How lost do you have to be to let the devil lead you home.” Without adding any spoilers allow me to say that this was an extremely clever and well thought out plot. Even if I wanted to pick it apart and offer a petty criticism I would have to unravel myself and the time it took me to join the party and follow along. What day, what time, which host, has it happened yet or not, or just about to or can I trust you, should I, probably not, but who knows. 

The setting is Blackheath, a large estate surrounded by a forest. It is a lonely crumbling place with secrets, pain and malevolence. History is about to repeat itself and the loop is continuous with little chance of breaking. People are trapped in the house, wearing the bodies of guests and servants, only one will be allowed to leave. Aiden Bishop must solve the crime, unmask a murderer, look in a mirror, go mad, and maybe survive. Impossible for me to say more without giving it all away.

Completely engrossing, mentally challenging and very well written.  

Thank you NetGally and Sourcebooks Landmark for a copy.

4.5 stars.  This was not a quick read- at least not quick for me.  My head is spinning still from this one!  The author weaves quite the detailed story.  It’s a Quantum Leap (referring to that might age me) meets Groundhog Day meets Agatha Christie kind of novel.  Time travel and host jumping is always a hard one for me to wrap my head around.  Instead of running the time line in a straight line, it also jumps back into previous hosts.  I’ll admit that I was confused for the first part (Sebastian Bell’s part of the story).  I had no clue what was happening.  I’m glad I stuck it out although I wish I had taken notes!  

The characters and plot were well thought out and planned.  There were so many details to make it come together beautifully.  Thanks to Netgalley and Sourcebooks for the ARC!  I really enjoyed this one!

Having a debut novel published must be a nerve-wracking event. Will readers and critics love it? Hate it? Who will they compare you to? Well, Stuart Turton certainly has nothing to worry about, and the writer he has to live up is Agatha Christie (which is, as much as I love her work, a somewhat tired comparison and probably primarily done because Christie and Turton are both British). “The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle” is nothing short of brilliant, a dazzling piece of creative fiction with a few excellent twists thrown in.

Aiden Bishop awakes in a strange house and a strange body, although this first strange morning ends rather soon. When next he wakes, the house looks familiar, but the body is different again. The reader finds himself as confused as the struggling Aiden, both desperate and curious to figure out what is going on. In bits and pieces, the other occupants of the house are introduced, and soon the reader shares the main characters curious ability to observe a scene both from within and without. Apparently, there is a murder to be solved, complete with a deadline. As if that doesn’t add enough pressure, there is also a conspiracy, and a menacing figure in the form of a deadly footman. Who are Aiden’s foes, and is there anyone he can consider an ally? The suspense never lets up as Turton skillfully unravels the mystery thread by thread and throws in a wonderful surprise at the very end. This is the kind of book the term “page-turner” was invented for!

Seems a bit skimpy on detail? If you really must know more, enough reviews have been written about this novel, but most of them contain, in my opinion, a spoiler so obvious, they may as well spell out the conclusion. As this is my top pick for Book of the Year at this point, I am unwilling to give away too much and ruin the fun for you. The only thing I did not like about “The 7 1/2 Deaths” was that the publisher asked readers not to post reviews too soon (I read the ARC in April)!

If you love a good mystery, do yourself a favor and get this novel.

“The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle” is published by Sourcebooks Landmark. I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for a review. All opinions are most definitely my own.

I enjoyed this book! I personally have never read a book like this and so was excited to get into it. I was not dissappointed! This was a real page turner, the story was so intricately woven that it was consistently interesting throughout and kept me wanting more. I loved finding out about all these characters and learning about them along side the main character. I was constantly intrigued and with more and more layers always being added to the plot, even when I wasn't reading I was thinking about this book.
I thoroughly enjoyed this read.

The premise of this book was really interesting - a man relives the same day in different bodies until he solves the murder of Evelyn Hardcastle.  The first half of the book was very hard to follow, with the body-swapping and the lackluster explanation of how the hero entered Blackheath and how he could escape it.  Things started to pick up, of course, as Aidan began putting things together to solve the murder, but unfortunately took another downhill turn at the end.  The explanation just wasn't satisfying.  This book could have done with more editing.  I do plan on reading Turton's sophomore effort, as I'm hoping his writing will improve.

EXCERPT: 'A party?' she says, shaking her head. 'Oh, my dear man, you really have no idea what's happening here, do you?'

'Perhaps if you- -'

'My brother was murdered nineteen years ago tomorrow, Sebastian. I don't know why, but my parents have decided to mark the occasion by reopening the house where it happened and inviting back the very same guests who were here that day.'

Anger is rising in her voice, a low throb of pain I'd do anything to make go away. She’s turned her head to face the lake, her blue eyes glossy. 

'They're disguising a memorial as a party and they've made me the guest of honor, which I can only assume means something dreadful is coming for me,' she continues. 'This isn’t a celebration, it's a punishment, and there'll be fifty people in their very finest clothes watching it happen.'

ABOUT THIS BOOK: The Rules of Blackheath

Evelyn Hardcastle will be murdered at 11:00 p.m. 
There are eight days, and eight witnesses for you to inhabit. 
We will only let you escape once you tell us the name of the killer. 
Understood? Then let's begin...

***

Evelyn Hardcastle will die. Every day until Aiden Bishop can identify her killer and break the cycle. But every time the day begins again, Aiden wakes up in the body of a different guest. And some of his hosts are more helpful than others...

MY THOUGHTS: Alice in Wonderland meet Kate Atkinson's Life After Life. . .with a few scenes from the movies Sliding Doors and Ground Hog Day thrown in for good measure. And speaking of movies, I think that this would make a brilliant movie!

I have had all night to think about The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, and I still don't know what to say. This is one of the most perplexing yet compelling books I have ever read. I gave up trying to figure it out early on and just enjoyed the ride. The author does leave little clues that don't seem important at the time, that I didn't quite realize the relevance of until the end of the book, when I struck my forehead with the heel of my hand (very theatrically - it's that sort of book!) and said 'Of course! I see it all now!' and exited stage left, or was it right? 

Complex. Clever. Multi-layered. Compelling. Mind bending. These are all words that can be used to describe The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, yet even put together they can't even begin to convey the depth and character of this novel. 

My recommendation? Just read it. You will either love it and devour it hungrily, or you will hate it and, in all probability not finish it. This is a book that you can't sit on the fence about. 

😍😍😍😍.5

THE AUTHOR: Stuart lives in London with his amazing wife and daughter. He drinks lots of tea.

What else?

​When he left university he went travelling for three months and stayed away for five years. Every time his parents asked when he’d be back he told them next week, and meant it.

Stuart is not to be trusted. In the nicest possible way. 

He’s got a degree in English and Philosophy, which makes him excellent at arguing and terrible at choosing degrees. 

Having trained for no particular career, he has dabbled in most of them. He stocked shelves in a Darwin bookshop, taught English in Shanghai, worked for a technology magazine in London, wrote travel articles in Dubai, and now he’s a freelance journalist. None of this was planned, he just kept getting lost on his way to other places.

He likes a chat. He likes books. He likes people who write books and people who read books. He doesn’t know how to write a biography, so should probably stop before he tells you about his dreams or something. It was lovely to meet you, though.

Stuart's debut novel is called The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle in the UK and The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle in the US. They're the same book. Don't fret.

DISCLOSURE: Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark via Netgalley for providing a digital ARC of The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton for review. All opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own personal opinions. 

Please refer to my Goodreads.com profile page or the about page on sandysbookaday.wordpress.com for an explanation of my rating system. This review and others are also published on my blog sandysbookaday.wordpress.com

Wow wow wow wow wow wow.

I have been looking forward to reading The 7.5 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle for months now and I’m so very glad it did not disappoint!

The first thing that amazes me about the book is how the author ever managed to keep track of so many tiny yet crucial details to the story! The entire plot is woven together so intricately and I just loved it. There is no way for me to review such an amazing mystery without spoilers so instead I choose to talk about the writing itself. With excellent narration, amazing plot twists and a story you cannot get enough of, this book has surpassed all my expectations. If you are a fan of mystery/thrillers in general, please do give this wonderful book a shot!

This book was so different! It's a mystery about a murder at it's heart. While there may be hundreds of other murder mystery books out there, I don't think there's another book like this one. If Being John Malkovich and Groundhog's Day had a baby, this would be it. 

Our narrator is trying to solve a murder that hasn't quite taken place yet. He wakes up in the woods one morning at Blackheath where a party is going to take place later that evening. He learns that he is tasked with finding out who is going to be murdering Evelyn Hardcastle at the night's party. How can he do that? He'll live the day over and over again while trying to solve the murder, and each day he is going to be "hosted" by one of the guests at the party. And by "hosted" I mean he is going to become that guest.

This was so hard to put down. They mystery is intriguing, the story line is twisted. You will have trouble forgetting this book once you finish reading.

After a 3-month reading slump, I have finally found a cure: “The 7 1/2 Deaths is Evelyn Hardcastle”.

Aidan Bishop is trapped at Blackheath, destined to relive the same day as a different person unless solves the murder of Evelyn Hardcastle. This summary alone informs readers that this is so much more than your average murder mystery story. It’s incredible how detailed the plot is, and how the author is able to intertwine each characters movements. This novel can definitely use multiple rereads in order to catch the fine intricacies of the plot, and it’ll be a joy each and every time. 

Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark, Stuart Turton, and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Buy This Book
The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is a highly original début that defies description. It’s part gothic, part murder mystery and part science fiction novel but there’s a whole lot more to It than that. Innovative and unconventional, it is a unique reading experience.

He doesn’t know who he is, where he is or why he’s there. He only knows Anna. Anna whom he believes is running through the woods. He is afraid as he chases after her; he thinks she must be, too. His legs hurt, he’s cold and inappropriately dressed for a run through the forest. He stops when he hears the gunshot; he can’t move when a man comes up behind him and places a compass in his pocket, saying simply the word, “East.” After a while, when the discomfort of staying still outweighs his fear of going forward, he moves. He heads east, finds the dilapidated manor house, reports the probable murder and despises his own cowardice. He learns his name is Sebastian Bell. It’s obvious to him that whoever he is or was, he is a weak, unworthy man who let a woman die because he lacked the courage to rescue her.

But the reality, as he quickly learns, is actually worse than that. Bell is a guest at a house party thrown in honor of Evelyn Hardcastle’s return from Paris. She’ll be murdered that night while he watches. She’s been murdered hundreds of times already. He is one of eight hosts for the mind/spirit of a man named Aiden Bishop who is tasked with solving the crime. Aiden spends twenty-four hours with each host, cycling through them on a regular basis.  He will relive the day of Evelyn’s demise over and over until he can identify the perpetrator. He must give the correct answer to the man in the plague doctor’s costume by the end of the eighth day or have his memories erased and begin again.

There are two other souls trying to figure out who the killer is and get out of the perpetual hell that is Blackheath House. Two people who will lose if Aiden wins. Two people who just might kill all eight of his incarnations to make sure that never happens. They’ve done it before. How will he keep them from doing it again?

Set in an English manor house in the years after the First World War, this is an atmospheric, chilling whodunit. The setting is cold, sinister, cryptic and deliciously eerie. It provides a perfect backdrop for a story where nothing is quite as it seems.

If you can imagine not knowing who you are, where you are, who anyone else is or what’s going on, you have a pretty clear idea of how Aiden feels throughout most of this novel. That untethered-to-reality quality might be annoying in some books, but the author does a good job of making it work here. By combining it with the mystery of the murder he gives the story the feel of a good thriller with an uncertain narrator.

The crime itself, when we come to the actual solution of it, is quite clever and thrilling. One of the benefits of the multiple hosts is that they allow Aiden to form a panoramic view of the murder so that he can move beyond the surface of the event and see a great deal more of what lies beneath than any single person could. It’s a riveting aspect of the tale and the author does a magnificent job of bringing the various views together into a coherent whole.

Another advantage to the multiple hosts is that it both limits and expands the number of people we are dealing with. It limits them in the sense that we have only one narrator, Aiden.  However, that actuality is expanded since we are intimately introduced to eight other people via Aiden’s ‘possession’ of the hosts. I liked that each host had a unique physical form, mindset and history which Aiden had to grapple with and utilize to solve the mystery. It brings to mind for the reader how our physical limitations/abilities and thought patterns affect how we work through problems.

Aiden’s personas are all different. My favorite is easily Constable Jim Rashton, a kind and decent young man with a fantastic sense of justice and a loving heart. Bell is a conundrum; a man capable of making friends and being good but a with a dark secret and weak core. The lawyer Dance is much as his name implies; he has a nimble mind but it’s mercurial and mercenary. I loved Lord Ravencourt’s cleverness and Gold’s artistic eye. They each bring interesting talents to the job of sleuthing. I had only a few disappointments in regard to the hosts, one being that the author didn’t use a female host because I would have enjoyed seeing a contrast between male vs. female perspectives.

Another disappointment was that I deeply disliked the fat shaming that occurred with one of the characters. Aiden inhabits a drug addict, drug dealer, rapist and abusive father but the person who makes him “overcome by disgust and shame” is the obese host. It’s not that he likes the others, but from the way the weight issue is discussed, it seemed almost as if he considers this flaw equal to that of the others. When it was later alluded to that the obese character might also be gay, I was troubled. To be clear, nothing negative is said about gay people. Nothing. But I wondered why that particular characteristic was given to a host Aiden was somewhat appalled by. It just made me a little uneasy since the added characteristic was unnecessary.

In fact, Aiden’s disgust with several of his varying host’s flaws left me feeling less than charitable toward him. He was critiquing and condemning people while knowing only some of their story and it seemed on occasion to reveal a judgmental and vain character on his part. I wonder, if positions had been reversed, what kind of host would they have considered him?

The novel has themes of redemption and rehabilitation running through it which I found myself at odds with as well. I disagreed that this situation would result in positive changes to anyone’s heart or moral structure and struggled to accept that the ending in any way reflected reparation and atonement.

Those quibbles aside, The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is an intriguing mystery wrapped in a clever, exceptional package. If you are a fan of science fiction, the movie Groundhog Day, the Netflix show Altered Carbon or just enjoy unique suspense stories, I think you will enjoy this. If you are a fan of all those things, I would say it’s probably a must read for you.

“Somebody’s going to be murdered at the ball tonight. It won’t appear to be a murder and so the murderer won’t be caught.” 

The main character has no memory of who he is. He is not in his own body. Each time he wakes he is in a new body. He has seven days to solve the mystery of Evelyn Hardcastle, and seven different bodies to examine different aspects of the day. 

This book is mostly a murder mystery, a little bit of a historical fiction, and a tiny dab of sci-fi.  I couldn’t put it down and the twists and turns went in directions I didn’t see coming. I enjoyed every second I was reading this.

I don’t want to say more because I believe you should go into a mystery knowing as little as possible. You don’t want to miss out on this one.

I loved this book! A very twisty, innovative mystery with intriguing characters and a satisfying payoff. The world-building was great and very convincing, with its classic Agatha Christie-style country house feel paired with a memorable concept. I found the action a little slow to get started, but once the narrator was all-in on solving the mystery, things really picked up. The last 100 pages or so kept me on the edge of my seat.

I am going to give my honest critique. This book had me bored from the start. I requested this book due to the description which made it seem like it was a thrilling mystery. I was horribly wrong. It had such a good premise but the writing and characters were bland and flat. I found myself swiping through it trying my hardest to find it engaging. Nothing. I would not recommend reading this book.